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tv   The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer  CNN  July 8, 2011 5:00pm-7:00pm EDT

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>> america will continue the dream. >> wow. thanks for letting me join you for a couple of days here in atlanta. now to "the situation room" and cnn's candy crowley. >> thanks, e.d. happening now, a new punch in the gut for jobless americans, and for the obama white house. this hour, the cold, hard numbers and a very days pointing jobs report. it's new ammunition for urgent talk to prevent america from defaulting on its debts. plus, atlanta soars in the sky for nasa's 135th and final shuttle launch. we're tracking this historic mission minute by minute. and the phone hacking scandal that's killing one of the world's best-selling yups now is embarrassing the british prime minister. his former press secretary arrested in the widening investigation of the "news of the world." wolf blitzer is off today. i'm candy crowley and you're in
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"the situation room." >> a lot of pain and not enough gain. a new snapshot of employment in this country. 18,000 jobs were created in june. that's far short of the 125,000 new jobs some economists were predicting. another setback, the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 9.2% last month, up from 9.1% in may. president obama says the steal mate over the rising debt is contributing to the problem and he says it must be resolved by the august 2 deadline. >> the sooner with eget this done, the sooner that the markets know that the debt limit ceiling will have been raised and that we have a serious plan to deal with our debt and deficit. the sooner we give our bhizs the
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certainty they need to make additional investments to grow and hire, and will provide more confidence to the rest of the world as well so they are committed to investing in america. the american people sent us here to do the right thing, not for party, but for country. we're going to work together to get things done on their behalf. that's the least they can expect of us, not the most that they should expect of us. >> republicans in congress and on the presidential campaign trail are pouncing on the new jobs report. paul begala is a senior strategist for the democrat fundraising group priorities usa and priorities usa action. and john fary is president of quinn gillespie commune kpapgs okay, we're out of time. all right. the republican, especially the presidential nominee, i think we heard from all of them as you might imagine. let me give you a little bit of what mitt romney had to say and
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he was talking about a statement that david plouff, the president's senior political adviser had to say. this is romney's. president obama's closest white house adviser said that unemployment rates or even monthly job numbers do not matter to the average american. if david plouff were working iffer me, i would fire him and then he could experience firsthand the pain of unemployment. his comments are the insult to the more than 20 million people who are out of work, underemployed or who have simply stopped looking for jobs. with their cavalier attitude about the economy, the white house has turned the audacity of hope into the audacity of indifference. okay. >> listen, this is trouble for the president, is it not? >> well, it's trouble for the country when the economy goes bad. if i was advising mr. romney, a little less glee when the news is so gloomy, sir. for him to talk about firing people. he would fire david plouff, but he fired thousands of people. that's how he got so rich. it really does gall when you see -- the risk for him, hone
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honestly, if i was advising him. it's bad news, try not to smile so much, sir. it does appear from romney's comments, the chairman of the national committee that i can never announce, preibus said, sad news for the economy is good news for us. michelle bachmann thf morning said she hopes the bad numbers help her campaign. there's a risk for the republicans here that they're talking down the economy and they could look like they want america to fail so they could succeed. >> we know bad economic numbers are good for the people not in the white house and running for the white house. so it's a fine line, and a very sensitive line to walk. >> it's the new narrative for july and august and september. lack of job. and that's going to have an impact on the debt limit negotiations that now takes tax increases off the time. >> it's awfully difficult for the president to say now i really want to raise taxes because everybody knows raising taxes kills jobs. for the president to try to get around that is going to hurt him
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even more. all the republican presidential candidates are absolutely right. they're not gleeful. they think the president's economic theories have not worked. they think they have the right theorys. that's why they're focused like a laser beam on jobs. i think this helps mitt romney because he has a lot of credibility on the economy. >> i know people say oh, yes, this has a lot to do with creating job, but it only sort of tangentially does. i get the impression that the white house would like to get this debt ceiling discussion over with. make whatever dale deal they're going to deal and move on so they could talk about jobs. >> we raised the debt ceilings seven times when george w. bush was president. many democrats voted against it then, i thought they were i plaing politics then. to be fair. >> including president obama. >> but the republicans are playing chicken with the economy now the way the democrats never did. the results could be calamitous, and now is the worst time for them to be playing russian roulette with the american economy. and they're doing it why? to protect millionaires and billionaires and oil companies. >> i'm not exactly what john says.
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>> they want to protect the economic growth. they don't want to raise tax in a slowing economy, which is pretty -- >> we just cut taxes in december and the economy slowed. so it doesn't look like that helped very much. >> i have to call a time-out. we'll talk some more. thank you all so much. the gloomy jobs report may get waved around in the next bargaining session. republican congressional leaders are warning the president that any tax hikes would make the jobs problem worse heading into sunday's bipartisan talks, the president is busy dealing with demands from his own party. here's our congressional correspondent kate baldwin. >> hey there, candy. if president obama thought republicans were going to be tough, his own party is now reminding him, they have some pretty serious demands, too. ahead of another round of debt talks, house democratic leader nancy pe lowcy met privatety with president obama at the white house. a. >> back on capitol hill, pelosi
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met behind closed doors with her fellow democrats. she described it as lively, but others called it angry, frustrated, and anxious. and one after another, they emerged, pushing a unified message. no deal if it includes benefit cuts to medicare or social security? >> we can't subsidize tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the poor and working families. it should not be used to pay for reckless spending that led to these massive deficits. medicare, medicaid, same thing. >> medicare or social security. >> is that a bottom line here? >> there's no question about it. >> pelosi did leave the door
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open to changes to the entitlement programs, but only if the savings stay within the programs and were not put towards deficit reduction. >> the dirty rotten devil is in the dirty rotten details. >> it's not that there's some imminent deal about to happen. there are serious disagreements about how to deal with this very serious problem. >> they cannot get any deal through very unlikely, at least without them. >> they don't need all of either
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party, but they need most of both, don't they? >> they need a majority somewhere. >> they do. thanks so much. a whopping 14.1 million americans are out of work right now according to the new jobs report. and when you break down the number, there's a very clear gender gap. >> reporter: the health care industry has been a rare bright spot in a dismal jobs market and it's one of the reasons why 47-year-old stephen roy switched careers from a major tech firm to nursing. he landed a job at the stony brook university medical center where he saw an opportunity in a field traditionally dominated by women. >> i don't know if i was foolish or not, but i did, partly because i did come into the work force as, you know, a man in his 40s going into this field where, you know, i knew there wouldn't be a lot of men my age that i would be competing for jobs
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with. reerlt health care is one field where the pugh research said men are finding jobs at a faster rate than women. men gained 805,000 jobs, while women lost 281,000 jobs in that same period. it's a major shift from the start of the recession. economist heather boucher says then men lost 7 out of 10 jobs and says it's not surprising they are now gaining jobs faster. a pick up in manufacturing earlier this year helped put men to work but there's another reason for the gender gap. >> men make up majority of state and government workers. we've seen very sharp layoffs that have disproportionately affected women worker ps. >> layoffs for teachers and librarians are hurting women more. on a broader scale, one network helping put women to work sees an uptick in job seerks.
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>> more women are seeking our services and have been seeking our services in the past year. and more often than not, their reason for seeks oyou are services is because it is taking them a long time to get back into the work force. >> reporter: while women may be getting higher at a slower pace, the unemployment rate for men is still higher at 9.1% compared to 8% for women. with no dramatic improvement expected soon, one newcomer to the health care profession isn't complaining about making less an working harder. >> i'm incredibly grateful for what i get to do every day, but secondly, i feel like i dodged a bullet. >> stephen waugh for one is betting that an aging baby boomer population will create demand and help provide job security. he's not alone. a forecast by moodiemoodieseconm expects 4.3 million health care jobs to be added until the year 2021. candy? >> wow. inside the figures, really interesting. thank you so much. america's space shuttle program is one launch closer to
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becoming a blast from the past. stand by for the excitement and the history surrounding today's liftoff. and what's next for nasa. and the political cloud over rupert murdoch's media empire in britain and here in the u.s. it's under scrutiny right now after a new arrest in an exploding scandal. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ my only sunshine ♪ you makes me happy
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>> all three engines, up up and burning. two, one, zero. >> houston now controlling the flight of atlantis. space shuttle spreads its wings one final time 24 seconds into the flight, program complete, atlantis now heads down, wings level on the proper alignment for its 8:30 ride to orbit. hardware and humans, taking aim on the international space station.
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the three liquid fuel engines throttling back. in the bucket, reducing stress on the shuttle as it goes transsonic for the final time. revving up, standing by for the throttle up call. >> atlantis, go and throttle up. no action dpdt. >> slotle up. >> the call frf the captain barry wlmore. no action required.
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atlantis flexing their muscle one final time. 24 miles down range. standing by for solid rocket booster separation. >> guidance now converging. the main engine steering the shuttle on a pinpoint path to its preliminary orbit. 2:20 into the flight, atlantis already traveling 3,200 miles an hour, 35 miles in altitude, 50 miles down range. the propulsion officer reporting the system engines have ignited. kicking on ats afterburners for the final phase of powered flight. >> let's bring in cnn's veteran of covering shuttle launches,
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john zarrella join us us in florida. just, you know, it just never fails to kind of be so cool watching that, whether you're watching it live on tv, or taped on tv, but better yet, where you are. so the launch kind of carries itself. i kind of feel like you don't need any follow-on around the launch. tell us what's plan for with when the shuttle returns. >> welsh it's funny that briefly, i talked to one of the shuttle astronauts a while ago. down the road there's going to be nostalgia for these vehicles. people are going to look back and they're going to say were we ever so audacious to build a spacecraft like this that could fly into orbit like a rocket.
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you and i will never in our lifetime see a vehicle like this. when it comes back on the 20th or possibly on the 21st in a month when it lands back to earth, the commander will call wheels stopped. and nasa is hoping after they safe the vehicle, they will allow all of the veet rans -- all of the worker, the shuttle workers to actually go out to the launch pad and get one final look, touch the vehicle, one final time before, you know, it's retired. and sent to the museum. of course, atlantis is going to be here at the museum at the kennedy space center. but they've got a lot of work in the next 12 days. they they've got to rendezvous at the international space station in two days. then they've got to offload all kinds of cargo. nasa had a shot up just a minute ago that showed inside the cargo bay where they're carrying thousands of pounds. basically to stock the pantry and the refrigerator on the international space station.
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all of the smaller vehicles that can go up there cannot carry anywhere near the capacity of cargo that can be carried by the space shuttle. candy? >> compare this launch to the others you've seen. >> and here's that picture inside the shuttle cargo bay. it's a live shot, now it's gone again. of the carrier, of course. that's got all that equipment in. what it came down to today as i was watching it, you have that feeling there's another one, i'll see another one. this time as it clears the tower i'm thinking to myself, that's it. there's not going to be another one. i'm not going to see another one of these spectacular launches.
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the night launches are something that -- you know, the skylights up, it turns to day. they're fabulous. you know, early morning launches. every one of them is a little bit unique. and there's that live picture from the shuttle atlantis. the center, that's where all the goods are being stored. what you're seeing at the right there is the arm, the shuttle's arm, and in the back, you can see the tail section of the shuttle. so looking from front to back there, as they're traveling at about 17,500 miles an hour. you know, racing as fast as they can to catch up to the space station. candy? >> john zarrella, you are going to misthis, i can tell. >> yes, i am. >> the action shifted to johnson space center in texas where nasa is tracking every move of atlantis and its crew.
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that's where we find cnn's e ed led l ed lavandera. >> here in houston is where hundreds of thousands of people are behind the scenes support. the astronauts get all the glory when they're walking out to the launch pad and lifts off. these are bittersweet days for all the people here in the houston area who work for the shutdle program. and just after that launch, we were able to speak with the flight director. richard jones who's talked about what an amazing day this was for him. this is richard jones, flight director of the last shuttle launch that we've seen today. what was it like sitting there? >> oh, gosh.
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well, even before we lifted off, i was a bundle of nerves. >> the fact that you knew the whole world was watching today as closely as they had ever been, did you -- did that sink in at any point? >> no, it's sinking in right now as i'm talking to you. but no, absolutely not. i was d, in this room, you kind of learn to live in the bubble a lit bit. so everything that we're doing is -- it fades to the background. we know a lot of people are watching, but it becomes background noise. i wasn't to cushion on anything except my job at the time. >> you're talking to the team in there a little while ago. you got emotional. >> yeah, i did. i wasn't expecting that until the very end. and it's because i'm saying goodbye to a lot of my -- a lot of my co-workers. and so i've been in the trenches with them for a very long time. just saying goodbye to them, it hurts.
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>> it came rushing to me. >> what did you want to take away from that? >> to me it was the past, present and the future. we're just a little part of it. right now, we're in the present. and there will be others of us to come. and so just relish the moment. >> this room in a few days will be quiet for the foreseeable future, won't it? >> yeah. it will be. that's going to be hard for people. >> it's part of the transition. it's up to us to not stay quiet for so long. >> you haven't seen the launch. crazy thing about this. there's not a monitor around there that shows you the actual video of the launch. >> once i get home, yeah, i'll go look at the replays and see how well and how it went. i'm expecting to see a beautiful, beautiful launch. >> i can attest to it. it looked great. congratulations, man. >> appreciate it, thank you. >> candy, it was really amazing to watch these people work here in mission control this morning.
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about 30 minutes before the launch, there was a lot of tension growing in that room. they weren't quite sure whether or not that weather was going to cooperate. and there's about two or three minutes before the launch, you could see richard jones start to calm down. he had been pacing around, walking around back and forth. at one point he asked everyone to be quiet just a second so he could think. they were making the final decisions and he said it was a great experience to get the shuttle atlantis up into space. candy? >> lots and lots of history and lots of work being done. ed lavandera, thanks so much. we appreciate it. yo ou need to stay with cnn for complete coverage of this final shuttle mission. and an in depth look at what's next for nasa. tonight, a cnn special investigation -- beyond atlan s atlantis, the next frontier. that's at 8:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00 pacific right here on cnn. syria has tried to keep a lid on information trickling out of the country but desserters from the military are coming clean about what they say they
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did in the name of their nation. and an execution in texas fuels anger on both sides of the mexican border. we'll explain the outrage over a convicted killer's death.
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pro democracy activists in syria say eight people were killed in clashes with security forces today. protesters declared this a day of no dialogue. they say the government's offer of talks isn't enough. but syria's ruth crackdown has sent a message, too. desserters from the army told cnn's ivan watson how far account government is willing to go to crush dissent. we have to warn you, some of these pictures are really hard to watch. >> syrian troops and tanks, squaring off against anti-government demonstrators, snapshots of a bloody government crackdown that's gone on for months. now a man who says he's a dee earther from the syrian army claims in an interview from cnn he was given orders to shoot unarmed protesters.
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>> translator: there were protests and chanting. suddenly our officer gave us the order to shoot at the people. it didn't matter how many would be killed. the important thing was for the protest to be dispersed and we started shooting. >> he asked his fies not to be shown because of reprisals against his family. opposition groups accuse the syrian regime of killing more than 1,300 syrians over the last three months. this 21-year-old says he worked in an ice cream factory until he was conscripted into the syrian army last december. he was assigned to be a sniper. he said he was pretty good. >> you could hit a target at those two white towers over there? >> translator: no problem. i can hit it wherever you want. in the head, in the arms.
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>> reporter: in march, anti-government protests first erupted in a southern town. a soldier said officers told him agents paid by a saudi arabian prince had infiltrated syria and were killing civilians. >> you thought saudi arabia was attacking syria? >> reporter: yeah, we thought it was a foreign plot. >> reporter: on april 25, the soldier says he was sent down to join other troops fighting against these so-called foreign agents. when protesters gathered the following friday, the sniper said he was perched on a roof top, much like this one. >> what did the protesters do when the soldiers started shooting at them? >> caller: they threw stones. and if someone fell on the ground, they picked them up. and they were trying to hide behind trees and walls.
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>> reporter: youtube video shows protesters pinned down by sniper fire. trying to rescue civilians who appear to have been shot. the sniper says over the next month, he saw hundreds of unarmed civilians shot in similar circumstances. after a month, the sniper said he'd had enough. he joined a group of 20 other deserters who fled at night to damascus. a week later, the sniper smuggled himself across the border to turkey where he's now in hiding here in istanbul while applying for asylum as a refugee. >> translator: i'm still frightened here in turkey, he tells me. imagine how scared i was over in syria. a single bullet only costs the equivalent of 14 cents. in other words, in syria these days, life is tragically, brutally cheap.
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ivan watson, cn in, istanbul. >> the syrian government has long blamed shadowy foreign elements for the turmoil. now it's saying the u.s. ambassador is one of those responsible for inciting unrest. cnn foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty joins me now with more on this diplomatic tiff. jill, what is this about? >> well, candy, as you said, the syrian government is accusing the u.s. ambassador literally of trying to incite violence. the u.s. state department calls his visit a potent symbol of support for the syrian people. >> reporter: a car carrying the american ambassador to syria, robert ford, is mobbed by joyful residents of the city. for week, the site of major anti-government dmemonstrations and anti-government crackdowns. that wave olive branches, toss flowers.
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chants, down with the regime of their own president, basha bashar al-assad. the foreign ministry slams the visit, saying ford did it without official permission, that he met with saboteurs and was trying to aggravate situations that destabilize syria. >> absolute rubbish. >> reporter: the state department claims the ambassador who earlier met with average syrians in to the city didn't get out of the car this time and left before another major demonstration. the state department says the embassy did notify the syrian defense ministry of the trip. in fact, the ambassador's motorcade was waved through checkpoints. >> was ate bold thing for him to do? yes, but it speaks to the importance of sending the signal that we stand with the syrian people. >> reporter: the dramatic visit
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comes after some republican members of congress have urged the obama administration to pull its ambassador out of syria, claiming keeping him there is simply rewards a dictator. the state department says the visit to hama demonstrates the importance of having an ambassador on the ground, that this was not about the u.s. congress. and by the way, state department says that ambassador ford was excourted out of the city by young men, demonstrators on motorcycles. now up to now the administration has been criticized for doing actually very little on syria. in fact, ambassador ford also up till now has taken a kind of low profile approach. but this visit ratchets up the pressure by the administration on president assad, obviously the syrian government is angry, but the u.s. seems to think that it's made its point. candy? >> you know, ambassador ford, i have to say i agree with the
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state department, it's a bold move and one that had to have been sanctioned, if not ordered, if you will, by the u.s. it also seems to me, regardless of the fact that he was surrounded by friendly demonstrators, a brave move. >> yes, because actually, you never know. friendly or not, demonstrations can turn violent. it's very unpredictable, and they didn't know exactly what might happen. you know, to their group. they actually had military, u.s. military with them. the military attache and others were with them. and they did notify the defense ministry, precisely because they were a bit worried that something could happen. that they might not be able to get through. >> amazing story. thanks so much. >> the british prime minister is being tugged deeper into a tabloid scandal after the arrest of a former aid. we're investigating the far-reaching political influence of rupert murdoch's media empire. . how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't.
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nasa has been looking at new frontiers to explore. once again, here's cnn's john zarrella. >> reporter: surrounded by the blackness of deep space, 117 million miles from earth is the asteroid vesta. images captured by a nasa probe. in the not too distant future, u.s. astronauts could be looking out their window at a site just like this.
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>> they work on the kind of equipment and techniques they need for human exploration of an asteroid as early as 2025. before either the moon or mars. >> what we're doing is building a stimulated asteroid under water. >> reporter: and this is not some high-tech laboratory. it's key largo, florida. beneath the surface at the site of an undersea habitat called aquarius, they have created an asteroid proving ground in the near weightless environment of water. >> we work there, we live there. we built like a rock climbing wall. we can climb that wall in zero gravity. >> nasa is going back to going
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outward, where most everyone agrees it does best. an asteroid could be the first step, a baby step, because there's no gravity and an asteroid would be much closer, its's simply an easier first mission than mars. so once you get to mars or the moon or an os detroit, how are you going to get around? a multimission space exploration vehicle. >> in five years, they hope to see the vehicle attached to the space station's robotic arm. with astronauts living in it and space walking from it. a good test. but before it can go any further out like to an asteroid, there's one big problem -- getting it there. >> jeff was a member of the blue ribbon exploration. they worry it may never go anywhere.
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if nasa does develop this launch vehicle, there will be no budgeted into anything with it. >> mars is always 20 years in the dmur. it's been 20 years in the future for the last 30 years. i would like to see how committed we are this time. >> first, egyptians who took to the streets are back in cairo's main square. we'll tell you what they want now. and why casey anthony will stay in jail a little longer than anybody thought. .mething big?
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we're monitoring other stories in in the situation rook right now. mary, what do you have? >> fens of thousands of impatient egyptians flooded cairo square today. they're frustrated by the current military leaders and want the interim government to speed up reforms. protesters say they won't leave until the demands are met. the rulers have set
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parliamentary hearings for september. residents in montana are running out of the patience on the exxonmobil response. exxon says the breach has dumped up to a thousand barrels of oil into the river. we'll speak to the governor next hour about the disaster. and the duke and duchess of cambridge land in los angeles next hour for the last leg of their world wind tour of north america. earlier, they wrapped up their visit to canada by helping to kick off the calgary stampede. prince william and his new bride will spend three days in california before heading home. and candy, i have a hunch we're going to be hearing a little bit about that trip. >> you think? yeah. she's looking great as always. thanks so much. appreciate it. tim pawlenty is proving that jumping in early isn't always the best plan in a presidential primary. can he turn his campaign around?
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and president obama has to turn around a lot more than a campaign. will the unemployment picture cost him his own job? [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them.
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it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.
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tim paw lendy had his eye on the white house and they had a hard time convincing voters he was the best man for the job. cnn contributor and republican strategist. six months until the iowa caucuses and 16 months until the november elections. i want to read you a piece from the "new york times," part of what he said. tim pawlenty was first in line he is now fighting to avoid becoming the earliest major candidate to be shown the door is it too early? >> i shouldn't talk about the pawlenty campaign. electric at john kerry. he was trailing. he wound up being my party's nominee. john mccain while we were all laughing i was one of them. dead man walking.
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he triumphed and became his nominee. paw lendy, i think there is still live n there >> there is life, but he suffers from two problems. he has no charisma and michelle bachman is killing him. he doesn't raise any money and he was famous and tim pawlenty is not famous and without money, it's hard to get famous >> we talk about jim huntsman. he got in a good deal later with his own money he can sell fund at this point. the fact is that lightning does strike in these campaigns. if you were going to give him free advice -- >> lightning strikes, but sometimes it burns. howard dean was the first to speak out strongly. he roared out and couldn't even win in iowa. there was a flight to quality
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and not to des parnlg governor dean he buttons made that said dated dean, married kerry maybe they will say dated bachman, married pawlenty. >> he has to be a champion for the middle class. hez has to be that fighter and he is showing no passion. he has to have a message that works he has no passion the champion for the middle class does that and it can catch fire so far >> he won iowa. he picked fights and called it a conservative gruba a club for greed. he thought they represented big business. he took a stand with edge to it in his party and they helped aim i had lot. if you are going to be the middle class guy, pawlenty may be a guy who can do that. john huntsman won't. >> here didn't show much strength when he had the obama
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care thing. if he had the strength to go after the opponents, he will have the message against the guys to run against be very convincing he is flat >> a new arrest in the empire. it's driving home the media mogul's connections. montana's governor tans parts of his state and what exxon has done wrong
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political fallout for one of the best selling newspapers. a secretary to the british prime minister was arrested in allegations of phone hacking while he was editor of the news of the world. he has been released on bail. this growing scandal casting a spot lot on the media empire and the influence around the world. our brian todd is looking into that. >> all of this is a wake up call for politicians in britain, but
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his own ties to rupert murdoch are a growing liability for them. it wasn't long ago that the connections with murdoch helped propel him into office. with an obama-like image, the sun tab light endorsed for prime minister. he may not have owed his victory to the paper, but analysts say it helped. they say in britain at least, politicians are both fascinate and brightened by murdoch's political influence >> if you are a politician whose papers decide your image and your reputation is wrong and your policies are wrong, you have an up till struggle and 40% of the media railed against you. >> it's that cloud that let them to cozy up to murdoch, but it's not the conservatives who courted them. it's significant because they are enormous
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the tv networks and 60 plus stations, in britain even with news of the world, he owns the sun and times of london. he owns nearly 40% of british sky broadcasting and the defendant is debating whether to buy the rest with concerns it may place too much influence one company handles with all these companies, it's rupert murdoch who sets the political tone. >> she not telling us what to say, but he is certainly seth the general drift. >> in the u.s., murdoch's news corporation owners the "wall street journal" that some see as the most influential newspaper. the right-leaning new york post and fox news channel, a mecca for commentators and presidential hopefuls >> you can help get elected, but it helps if you are a republican
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not to are have fox news against you. that's a much tougher mountain to climb. is in the u.s. with major tv networks accused of leaning left. they are seen as a counter weight. this is a serious debate. they influenced the elections of the last three prime ministers and gets total control and that debate will get much, much louder. >> you have insight into what it is to be a british politician if the reporters want to go after you. >> not a pleasant experience. they said politicians have been to this and if murdoch's people decide they want to put pressure on you, they are brutal in the chase they will show up at the house and call you at any time. they will become what he says. totally relentless in the chase
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of you. the spokesman heouldn't comment on. >> thanks so much. we will be talking about this story next week as well. the clouds give way and the shuttle mission lifts off on a mighty surge of name as emotions soar among those who gathered to witness a moment in history. employment numbers are bad and candidates are quick to pounce. could the shocked lawmakers take action on america's debt crisis. a nasty oil spill in the shadow of the rocks. amid the clean up effort, they call on exxon to come clean about the circumstances welcome to viewers in the united states and your political headlines are straight ahead. wolf blitzer is off and you are in "the situation room"
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. >> for decades, the last four shuttle astronauts set out for the launch pad. the drama and sense of wonder returned. almost a million people gathered to watch the blast off on the final mission to the international space station. after 134 flights and a half billion miles in space, nasa calls this a sentimental journey into history. as the rockets roared, carrying the shuttle aloft on a column of fire, there was this to contemplate. after atlantis joins the fleed in retirement, the united states and the name that went to the moon will have no way to put people into space. you want to go to the kennedy space center where we watched many shuttle launches. the last one must have been something very special. >> there is no question about it. coming here for so many years, watching these space shuttles,
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there was always that there would be a next time and another shuttle. of course as it was clearing the tower today, the sentiment that struck me is this is it. there will no longer be a shuttle to come uncover, but the point you were make suggest where does this leave the united states? that's the big question. nasa insisting that it will in fact continue outward or going to an asteriod or mars. is there enough political will and money in the budgets? will the public be behind such a high ticket item to do that down the road. the united states has no way to put their own astronauts into orbit for the future. after the lift off, a successful as it was, it was a time for the launch director and the launch team to kind of exhale. they talked about how this was really a microcosm. they worked through a problem. they had the weather to deal
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with and mike was the launch directionor and made light of the fact that that post launch briefing of how they made their decision to go ahead with the launch in spite of the weather . >> we met in my office before the meeting and flipped a coin. now that that's over, we can divulge secrets >>. >> i talked to him several months ago and i said mike, what happens now that the shuttle program is coming to an end? he said you know, i'm the launch director. there won't be any more launches to direct. i don't know. of course you know that's the feeling of many, many people here. sadly thousands of people losing their jobs here at the kennedy space center and others around the country. they are in the same boat saying to themselves what next? >> we know that this shuttle
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mission has a purpose. what's next for this shuttle? on sunday they are going to off load thousands of pounds of goods. basically filling the pantry, filling the refrigerator. it's the largest pay load they have taken up on an individual shuttle mission. just so they can get the shuttle and the space station stocked up with a year's worth of supplies. there is just nothing as big as the space shuttle's cargo. a lot of small rockets that can take goods and materials up and nothing as much mass as the shuttle. they will take down a bunch junk this they no longer need on the space station. it is a very important nation they will hand on the 20th or 21st and when they do that after
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a save the vehicle and after they call, they will allow the thousands of workers who are here to go out to the runway and touch the vehicle for one last time candy? >> you know how we like to say take me behind the scenes? i want to know what john who covered more than 70 launches, you have been at this for about three decades. a little cheer for him when this went off? give me your personal feelings. >> there really was. there was that moment they looked around. for me what was important is that people like anderson cooper who was here with me and many other staffers here today, i asked did you see one of these before? no. did it live up to the billing? yes. anderson was like wow. that's what made me feel good. people got to see this last launch who had never seen one before. television just doesn't do it
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justice. it is a spectacular moment and really is one that is etched in your mind. i know for everybody who saw the first one here today, it will be a moment that they will never forget. candy. >> it's amazing. i told people you feel like you are being launched down there. it's amazing quite the end of the year, but who knows what's next. thanks so much . >> america's latest employment numbers are plain ugly. only 18,000 jobs were created in june. icon mists had predicted a gain of 125,000 new jobs that raises the unemployment rate to 9.2% and raises the number of people to 14.1 million our cnn correspondent is here. jessica, hard to explain these numbers, but how is the white house doing it? >> they acknowledge that this is not good news for anybody. they are trying to share the pain. their basic message reminds me
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of the old billy joel song. we didn't start the fire, but we tried to fight it >> we have a long way to go and a lot of work to do to give people the security and the opportunity they deserve. >> no surprise. 52% of americans disappear of the president's handling of the economy. that's another to a cbs "new york times" poll taken before the numbers came out >> the excessive government regulations and overwhelming debt continued to hold back the job creators around the country. >> the economic dark cloud hangover all of the official
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washington. congress's approval numbers are lower than the president's. so the white house is trying to share the blame. remining americans they inherited a debilitating recession and calling on congress to use more tools to kick start job growth. >> there bills and trade agreements right now that get all the inside moving. all have bipartisan support and all could pass immediately. i urge congress not wait. >> then the question of timing and politics. these jobs numbers come at a crucial point in delicate negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. >> in all honesty, i don't think things have narrowed and i don't think this problem narrowed at all in the last several days. >> inside the white house, there is a measure of hope that they
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can help force a deal and here's the thinking. everyone here is in the same boat. republicans, democrats, white house, congress everything is being blamed for gridlock and not doing enough to help the e coconme and show they are leading and getting something done. that's a theory and a hope. there is no certainty on any side that a deal will get done and as we stand here talking, there is no deal. staff has been talking and nothing completed. >> meet with the president sunday night. >> we will know sunday if there is no deal. if there is, it will keep trickling on. >> see you sunday. president obama and the white house have been trying to put the best face on the june jobs report. republican candidates were quick to pounce, seizing on the latest unemployment numbers as a reason to make a change in 2012. cnn a jim acosta joins us live.
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jim, this was too big to pass up >> it was a gift. the republicans took it and ran with it all day long reactions from the gop field and the june jobs report shot up like a space shuttle. >> it's a failure and i wish it was otherwise, but it has not worked. >> republican front-runner released a video seizing on comments made earlier by one of president obama's top advir who is said people won't vote based on the unemployment rate and in a statement he said if he were working for me, i would fire him and he could experience the pain of unemployment. >> the republicans are engaged in a campaign. >> sensing the opening, most
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people do not analyze gdp. chances for reelection go down. >> we're four times in the last 35 years when a president has run with unemployment above 7%. three out of four times, that president went down. you better off than you were four years ago? >> in 1980, ronald reagan framed the report. the president since reagan won with an unemployment rate higher than 6%. he got a second term when the rate was 7.2%, but democrats point out unemployment was at 7.6 when president obama took office even then he was feeling the pressure. >> if i don't have this done in three years, there is going to be a one-term proposition.
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>> as a president he has to fight harder in nevada, florida, michigan and north carolina where the jobless rate is higher. outside political groups are already sharpening their message. >> i supported president obama because he spoke so beautifully. since then things have gone to from bad to much worse. >> there is a deteriorating sense of obama. what's the plan b here? we don't see one. there is not yet a confidence level in the alternative. >> the man who would like to be that alternative accused the white house of turning the audacity of hope to indifference. for the line of attack to work, voters have to believe that the candidate feels their pain. to use another term >> you think i heard this before. one man in washington beat all of the candidates in the field. that was john boehner with his
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quote, where are the jobs? he has been asking that for two years now. we are hearing all of these frasz again and again and again. >> jim acosta, thanks so much. an oil disaster far from the sea, tens of thens of gallons spilled from the pipeline in to montana. we will talk about it also, the ska scandal that is brigging down one of the biggest papers moves too close for comfort to the prime minister. prince william and his new bride are scheduled to arrive in los angeles this hour. it's her first time in the u.s. we will take you there live our pipes just don't work as well as they should. sometimes, i worry my pipes might leak. but i learned there's something more i can do. now, i take care with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems,
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an environmental disaster where thousands of barrels of goil gushed into the yellowstone river. montana's governor is accused of not giving the full story. he is joining us live and first the latest on the crisis from cnn in moan dana. the oil doesn't have harmful effects on human health. >> does it make sense to you? >> it is not rational. >> exxon said they are doing everything to clean up the spill. with so much oil in the river, they don't know how long that will take >> you walk a few feet down in the grass lands.
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it is disgusting i was told by exxon-mobil that you can't do that. it's practically everywhere. except out on the pad. okay. >> it's uncertain how long it will take. >> can you promise that exxon will clean up their failure. >> i can assure you that we are here to do the full clean up and to be here as long as necessary until the job is done. >> some fear it may be too late. >> go down to where the oil is, you can't hear anything. no birds and no toads. it's silent. >> a silence they hope goes away with the oil. cnn, yellowstone river. >> for more on the montana oil disaster, we are joined by the
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democratic governor. governor, you have been working with exxon until recently, we just heard a representative saying they stay there until they clean it up. you are committing to doing that, but can you explain what's going on here? >> it hasn't been good from the beginning. they first announced that it spill for six minutes and had somewhere between 700 and 1,000 barrels that spilled into the river. on further examination and forced by the reporters, they admitted a couple days later that it ran for some 30 minutes. still only 750 or 1,000 barrels. it's more than 50 minutes. they still say it's 750 to 1,000 barrels. they said they this h gone 10 miles downstream. this river is running at historically high levels. it's gone much further than that and we know there is a damaged
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soil on state parks as much as 40 miles downriver. there was no damage to any wildlife and we are fining evidence in all of these wet lands and the river was at high peak. it was over the banks. that oil that was at the top of the river, it came over the banks and spread out over all of these low lands these wet lands and the treasure troph of biology and they feed the health and the wealth of the river. exxon-mobil haven't done square with us. i said to them from the beginning. you be square with united states and i will be square with you. everything they told us hasn't been true. they want to clean this up. i guess we are going to verify and verify. the message for exxon-mobil will be cleaned up when montana said and not somebody in houston, texas. >> governor, what's your recourse here with exxon? are you working with them or
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watching over them? there has been an incident command, but we pulled out of that today. exxon-mobil refused to be transparent. by montana law, we have an open government law. washington, d.c. certainly doesn't. any time a state employee is involved in a discussion, that door has to be open for the press. any time there is a document that the state of montana is reviewing, that has to be available to the press. exxon did not agree to that. they had private security guards that wouldn't let the press in the hotel. we pulled the state employees out. we are going to continue to monitor them. we will have people that go over and meet with them. it's unfortunately difficult for us to have a good work plan when they won't give us accurate information. they won't give us the analysis. we requested the analysis of the
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oil in the pipeline. furthermore, we asked for the information on the pipeline. over the course of the last year, we know there has been numerous questions about violations with the operation of that pipeline. we haven't gotten that information yet. we have to have good information if we are going to make good decisions in the clean up. >> let me see if i can pin you down a little bit about this. if you think they are lying to you about how long this went on and the impact of what's going on. do you think they just don't know. >> i don't know. they got a lot of nrnls down there in houston, texas. they are one of the biggest companies in the world and more biologists and kemices and electrical and mechanical and working from anywhere in the world. a $2 calculator can show you the information they're give suggest not correct. it could be a question of competency. >> for could be lying which is where you are going with that.
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>> well, listen. the way this works is we are sending them letters and we are requesting this information. we are giving them a deadline to provide the information. at the end of the day, my job as governor is to make sure that this yellowstone river, the largest undammed river in the united states, one of the great trout-fishing rivers in the world, one of the dozens of blue ribbon streams we have in montana will be restored. those farmers and ranchers can irrigate their crops and spring week and sugar beats so that people that they will be proud to carb the trout and take them home. if this was a rocket disaster, i'm not a rocket scientist. unlike every governor in america, i am a soil scientist. i am going to hold exxon's feet to the fire until we get it restored. >> i am sure we will check in with you in the days to come. thanks for joining us. exxon-mobil released this
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statement to cnn regarding the oil spill in montana. exxon-mobil apologizes for the spill in the yellowstone river and committed to cleaning it up. we are led by the epa and including the state to clean up the river. we are working hard to address concerns and issues by residents and landowners as quickly as possible. >> pay a check of the other day's top stories is next. then tax the rich said one of the richest men in the world. is that the answer to the growing physical crisis? we will debate that and a new twist in the casey anthony saga. her freedom is further away than original thought. [ mom ] one of the challenges for kayla being gluten-free
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. let's take a closer look at the grim job picture. 18,000 jobs were created nationwide last month. that raises the unemployment rate to 9.2%. it raises the number of people unemployed in this country to 14.1 million. here's how president obama reacted >> we have always known we had ups and downs on the way back
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from this recession. over the past few months, the country has head winds and the state and local budget cuts that have tens of thousands of cops and firefighters and teachers their jobs. the problems in greece and europe along with uncertainty over whether the debt limit here in the united states will be raised have also made businesses hesitant. the economic challenges that we face weren't created overnight and they are not going to be solved overnight the american people expect us to act on every single good idea that's out there >> joining me now, our senior economist at the liberal-leaning center and the eastern economics writer for the "wall street journal." i want to start with you the president points out there a lot of reasons for these
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numbers. i want to show you a recent poll. asking americans who is most to blame for the condition of the economy. the bush administration it top at 26%. wall street, 25%. congress, 11 well%. obama administration, 8%. does that size up where you think the blame falls now? >> well, look. there is no question that barack obama inherited this crisis and george bush deserves some of the blame if not all the blame for getting us into the crisis in the first place. the problem for president obama is all the things he has done to get us out and it's 2 1/2 years, they have failed. the economic stimulus plan that we took we can all agreed an expensive failure. >> that are is the republican political line of attack as well. maybe he didn't create it, but he hasn't fixed it. >> the truth is very, very different. what we saw was that after the
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recovery act was set in motion, we saw the number of jobs being created each month start the bad news and it started to get better and we have seen the economy create over doll two mi jobs. the recovery act got us out of the hole and got us moving on the right track. >> doesn't seem like 9.2%. most americans look at it as out of the hole. the housing marketing is other things >> don't forget the president himself and advisers say if we pass this less than 8% unemployment. we are 2.5 million jobs away from that. >> let me move you heards the solutions out there. warren buffett said we need the rich to pay more in taxes. >> we had a period in the last 15 years where the top taxpayers in the united states if you go
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back 15 years with an average income of $45 million and now it's $350 million. the tax rates went from 27% down to 16%. i want everybody to get rich, but i think the rich have a responsibility to pay higher tax rates. >> this is not an uncommon thought. >> warren buffett is certainly free and clear of paying more tax fist he wants to and i don't think he paid a penny more than is legally required and he took the bush tax cut he said he didn't want. when you said how do we get out, what we do is bring rates down. at this stage of the expansion, we had about 300,000 jobs a month and not 15,000. we have to cut tax rates and hire more workers >> we are hearing a lot of
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democrats saying holy to you, we need more stimulus and money to create jobs. the first stimulus as you heard didn't work out to the extent it brought unemployment to 8%. >> two things. we know that tax cuts don't work. we were talking about it for the wealthy. periods where we have seen lower tax brackets on the wealthy have not been periods associated with stronger growth. the 2000s were the eakest era in the world war ii period in terms of employment growth and growth overall. we know. we have seen the evidence that that doesn't work. that's part of what is bankrupting the house right now. >> the stimulus has not been a wild success. >> the stimulus pulled us out of the deep hole we were in. we were losing jobs at the pace of 20 thousand a day.
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they were done a couple of months before things had gotten quite so bad they didn't estimate things would get so bad and didn't estimate the recovery act would need to go so far. fwheerp a situation where we don't have enough to manage our economy. the independent business this is june for the past few years keep saying when they pulled their members, small businesses across the country, their biggest problem is sales. they say month after month, the reason we are not hiring is because of sales. that's a demand problem and the problem those recovery dollars we are fixing. >> we had seven recessions. this has been not a little bit by far the weakest recovery. you normally in this stage, the economy is booming. >> they pulled us back from the cliff. do you believe that? the stimulus is like arm get on.
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>> the plan made it worse. we have another trillion in debt. now you have the stimulus all spent and we can't borrow more money. they are talking about trying to reduce the borrowing. we are in a bit of a fix. we have blown all of our money and have a big problem. >> i have to thank you both. we never have enough time and it's complicated. i thank you both. >> a fallout from a hacking scandal makes its way to the british prime minister's office. details of the arrest stirring up new controversy. the last launch from the shuttle program. you see the blast off as it happened. thousands of protesters returned to the square. epicenter of the revolt that ousted egypt's leaders. why are they so angry now? nothing helped me beat arthritis pain.
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♪ at great clips, quality and value have never looked more atractive. relax. you're at great clips. . shock waves keep spreading and the highest levels of government. as a super prepares to close, a former aid to the prime minister was arrested. dan rivers has the latest from london. >> it's difficult to imagine this story getting much bigger. we are now getting word of the french car manufacturer pulling out of any appetizing with news international newspapers, the parent group and not just the
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news of the world based in the building behind me which is now closing down . >> it was a way to end 168 years of journalistic history. protesters venting anger at the antics of the british tabloid, the nice of the world as staff prepared the final edition. it started with the reporter jailed in 2007 for hacking into prince william's phone. now it's believed -- the building behind me has been condemned by all political parties. the focus of the story has shifted to the prime minister david cameron and his decision to hire a former editor of the news of the world and his communications guru. a decision that has come back to haunt him with a vengeance >> i am not hiding from the
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decision i made. i made the decision that someone had been sent to prison and the editor resigned and he said he didn't know what was happening and he resigned when he found out and it was right to give that individual a second chance >> at the same time, he himself was in a police station answering questions about whether he sanctioned a legal phone hacking in his tenure at the paper. the scandal that forced him to stand down as a journalist and then as a government press adviser even though he denied knowing anything about hacking. britain's opposition said repairing the damage of the appointment means the government has a lot to do like -- >> apologizing for bringing him into the center of the government machine. coming clean about what conversations he had with andy before and after he was appointed about phone hack. >> it's not just the relationship.
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it's his alliance with the former boss rebecca brooks. both to camera. rebecca brooks hasn't been arrested yet, maintaininging she knew nothing about phone hacking. he is set to resign on thursday should have been accepted. that's because her boss remains loyal it her. a week ago it would have been unthinkable that a british prime minister would suggest one of murdoch's should stand down. such was his influence in power. as the saying goes, a week is a long time in politics. these past seven days have seen tech tonic shifts in power with many wonder figure murdoch's influence over plitish politics is now on the wane. >> rebecca brooks has been at the start all afternoon. she is refusing to step down despite some fairly heavy hints from the british prime minister. candy?
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>> as for andy colton, the british prime minister's former communications aid who was arrested was released as well without charge. thousands of protesters returned to the epicenter of the revolt and ousted the egypt leader. we will go back live, next. >> the duke and duchess of cambridge are scheduled to arrive any minute in los angeles. we will take you there live man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.
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. >> tens of thousands of egyptians return to the epicenter of the reform movement that forced president mubarak from power. they are turning anger on the new government. we want to go live to the new government in cairo. why are the protesters out there >> they are angry because they feel that the reforms and the revolution here in this this country are not going fast enough. about months after he seeded power they haven't seen any real change yet. the police brutality continues and there is a high level of corruption and the economy is going nowhere. there is way too few jobs for the many people here in this
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country. a lot of people came here to express their anger. i want you to listen in to the people we met here and you told us about why they came here today. >> change. nothing. >> we were saying there was good intentions, but they are slowing like this. the slowing means they are not going to do anything or they are just -- we are wasting time. >> they have have to protect themselves. all the guys. all the ministries >> so those are the comments that you will hear here. we are wasting time and things are not going fast enough. as you said, right now the country is basically being run by a military counsel. a lot of the member that was military were and are very close
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to mubarak and his regime. many people here feel they are dragging their feet, bringing people like this to trial with the cuts and the revolution that change need to be deeper than it is. they haven't yet seen the benefits of what they fought for five months ago. >> you are in the square the night mubarak's government feel. you can give me a comparison, those versus these protests? >> yeah. it's a night and day difference. it's so different. one of the things we have to keep in mind is back then it was unheard of for people here in this repressed country to come out and express their feelings. that's the kind of sentiment that you got then. people were almost drunken with the fact that you can protest that they were making a difference a lot of people had very high expectations. that things would change very, very quickly and if they keep going out on the streets, everything would go in their favor. you have a much more sober and
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much more disillusioned move after people see that change comes slowly and the economy is not going back on track. things are not working out as fast and as well as many thought. in a lot of ways, people are disappointed in the way things are going. one of the things i will say is i talked to many people here and a lot of them are very, very angry. not a single one said they thought that the revolution was wrong. all of them said they believed mubarak had been driven out of power and they were doing the right thing and now this revolution is in danger of going in the wrong direction >> in cairo tonight for us. thank you. >> a last launch, you will see that blast off to sentimental journey as it happened. the end of an era. the space shuttle launch. we'll have an extended look at history in the making the auth, the rare, the hard to define. to those always searching for what's pure and what's real
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from we who believe we know just how you feel. haagen-dazs. from we who believe we know just how you feel. we inspect your air filter, cabin filter. there's bugs, leaves, lint, crud. you'll be breathing that. i do believe it's part of a locust. make sure your alignments good. your brakes are good. you've got all sorts different things that you check off. your fluid levels. pretty much everything you could need. it gets done. it gets done quickly. and it gets done correctly. the works fuel saver package, just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. you're a doctor. you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor.
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nasa calls it a sentimental journey into history. here's a look at the final space shuttle launch. >> firing chain is armed.
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go for main engine t-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5. all three engines up and burning. 2, 1, 0. and liftoff, the final liftoff of "atlantis." on the shoulders of the space shuttle, america will continue the dream. >> roger, roll, "atlantis." >> houston now controlling the flight of "atlantis." space shuttle spreads its wings one final time for the start of a sentimental journey into history. 24 seconds into the flight, roll program complete. "atlantis" now heads down, wings level on the proper alignment for its 8.5-minute ride to orbit, 4.5 million pounds of hardware and humans taking aim on the international space station. 40 seconds into the flight, the three liquid fuel main engines throttling back to 72% of radial performance in the bucket, reducing stress on the shuttle
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as it goes transonic for the final time. engines now revving up, standing by for the throttle-up call. >> "atlantis," go at throttle up. no ago, dp, dt. >> the call from cap com barry willmore, transducer, ininstrumentation only, no action required. >> so cool. mary snow is monitoring other items in "the situation room" what do you have? >> 40 people have survived a plane crash in the central african nation of congo according to a government official, but the number of dead still isn't known. an aviation official says the plane likely went down due to bad weather as it was land income a provincial cap nat
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northeastern part of the country on a flight from the national capital, kinshasa. here in the u.s., casey anthony lend will be spending a few more days in custody than expected. officials say they recalculated her release date and moved it from next wednesday to a week from sunday but they aren't say how they came up with the new day. anthony was acquit old of murdering her daughter but convicted of trying investigators. she was sentenced to four years credit for time served. and there is fresh fallout from the scandal that caused ohio state football coach jim tressel had his job. the school now stays is vacating all ten of its victories from the 2010 season and putting itself on two years' probation. the scandal centered on players getting special benefits from local businesses in exchange for memorabilia. trestle was forced to resign after lying about it to ncaa investigators. candy? >> thanks, mary. we are awaiting a vip arrival in los angeles, prince william and his bride, katherine, on her first visit to this country. we are going to take you there
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his wife katherine. they have now arrived, touching down in los angeles. cnn's max foster and casey wian are there for us. casey, you are at l.a.x. how much tight is security there? just set the scene for us. >> reporter: absolutely very, very tight. we got here about three hours ago, to go through several different security sweeps. our camera, our satellite truck, just to make sure that nothing goes wrong here. the local officials are being very, very tight on security. and you can probably see, perhaps over my left shoulder here, the actual plane. that is a canadian air force airbus 310 that just touched down a couple of minutes ago, containing the duke and duchess of cambridge on their first official visit to the united states. of course, they have got a very, very busy schedule over the next 48 hours or so when they actually get off that plane in a couple of minutes, they will be met by california governor jerry brown, los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa and begin their trip to southern california that includes a british film industry event tomorrow night that's
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going to be attended by many hollywood celebrities, also a polo match that the prince himself will be playing in tomorrow to raise money for charity. candy? >> and cnn's max foster is also with us. max, tell us where you are and also, i know you have been following the couple in their trip through canada, so give us a kind of a comparison to what you saw in canada and what you are seeing now. >> reporter: well, here in california there are crowds but they are not nearly on the same level as they were in canada. what you got to think here this is the canadian royal family whilst they are on canadian tur much, as it were. what you have got here is a canadian military jet coming into l.a.x. and still under the control, if you like, of the canadian government right now. what you are going to have is canadian officials handing the couple over to the british ambassador to the united states. once they arrive here, they will be under uk government control, as it were. >> what did they have got a series of events in los angeles, promoting the uk interests.
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so i'm here at the beverly hilton, they will come here this will be their first stop. they will go into a conference here and their job here is, on behalf of the british government, to promote uk new media businesses. and this is what you are going to see throughout the weekend, the big red carpet event, for example, on saturday night is all about promoting young, british talent. you are going to see lots of stars. so it is going to be an interesting event but all about promoting uk interests, candy. >> max, is there time built in for them to have any fun? i get that they are ambassadors for britain and want to promote british interests, but this is her first visit to the u.s. >> reporter: it s and i met her the other night and she is handling it very well, but she's got lots of questions. she wants to know if it is going well, the whole event, and it is certainly s they did have some down time in canada, they had a chance to stay at lodge and relaxed a bit but under a very, very tight schedule and they are here, only three days and they are ramming in several events a
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day. so it is hard work and it is quite -- when you see up close, it doesn't necessarily look like hard work, when you see up close, all the plans that go into it a very intricate plan. the first thing you expect, i have to tell you, can dirk as they get off, an e-mail from the palace telling me what she is wearing, everyone is obsessed with what she is wearing, all eyes on the dress, i will tell you the designer as long as i get the e-mail. >> thank you very much, i will be looking forward to that casey, just wrapping up with you in our final 30 seconds or so [ inaudible ]. >> it absolutely is a very big plane. i don't know how big the entourage is going to be. we are expecting the british ambassador to be here, the consul general in los angeles, who is -- his house is where the royal couple will be staying and we are expecting them to depart this plane any moment now for what's expecto